Vacation in the City

For someone who grew up in Manila amidst the rising of the malls since SM North Edsa, had SM Megamall, Robinsons Galleria and Shangrila Plaza a walking distance away, I was awed by my recent mall trips a week ago. I wanted to go into every store, look at all the new things, and taste all the interesting food.  Even the supermarket excited me and I got a high from reading labels and just marveling at all the choices!  I truly turned into a promdi.

We spent an afternoon in SM Megamall and got the kids some clothes and shoes.

We dropped by their favorite ice cream shop: Thumbs Up!, where they got small portions of their favorite flavors!  No sugar high after!

Enjoyed Polly's chocolate cake twice during the trip, where it was the perfect ending of two very special birthday dinners.  What a coincidence. It IS The Best Chocolate Cake EVER.

 

 

A highlight of the trip was when the kids went to Eastwood City with their cousins.

We watched Despicable Me,

had a burger lunch at Stackers,

and went bungee jumping.  

 

We carefully watched everyone else who tried it.  The kids went twice. The first one scared them, leaving them stiff and almost throwing up. But they pleaded for a second one, and this time, they just let go and had fun.

Can you find Nacho among the branches? 

Here is little cousin Nina, who was the bravest of them all.

Finished the afternoon off with some yoghurt in Dash, a cozy toy shop.

Most of our time was spent talking and spending time together with family, which is why visited in the first place.  Even got to visit Papa more than once.

Now, everything is the other way around.  I used to escape the bright city life and travel to the seaside every few months.  Now, I live by the sea, and go off to the city once every few months.

We are back to the reality of studying with Elise and Nacho, going on our final stretch of house hunting, and gearing up our entrepreneurial spirit for the upcoming holidays.

After catching up on some much-needed rest when we got back, we ran straight to the beach!

And played once more.

And peacefully ended the day. 

Been back and forth for nine months, and it looks like this is Home Sweet Home.

Sea Stars

When Elise gets back from school, she usually hops into the shower, studies a little bit, and then it's dinnertime.  One day last week, it was so humid and hot that the kids and I decided to put on our aqua socks and head to the beach.  We still had an hour before sunset.

So the kids ran to the nearest pool of water.

Elise went ahead and stopped suddenly, letting off a piercing shriek.  I thought she was in trouble. But she was just so startled to see hundreds of starfish about an inch or so apart all over the edge of the pool. 

They were scattered everywhere!  We never saw them so numerous and so close to each other before.  Everywhere you looked, they were there!  The water was so clear, it was almost surprising to feel your arm wet when you reach down to get one.

This was the first time she was brave enough to pick one up and examine it.  She turned them over and just watched the little tube feet wiggle.

She was so sad to see one with one of the rays cut off. "Oh, no. This one is hurt." I assured her that starfish regenerate, and the ray would grow back.  Besides, they live for about 10 years, and having their rays cut off would happen often, with the rough waves flinging them against sharp coral and rock, or predators nibbling on them. 

She played with the others, setting them on her palm, and watching them slowly crawl back to the water.  "Mama, I'm his friend, he's not scared of me, he's moving!"  She knew that some animals do not move when threatened.  She did that over and over, and was giggling softly because it tickled. 

There were a couple of weird ones, like a black slithery one. "Don't touch that one."

 

And one that had only four rays.

And one that had six! 

Elise held it up and it reminded me of Christmas.

We ended the day well, breathed fresh air and welcomed the night.  

Beachfront Play

Elise surprisingly preferred to stay indoors and read her Teen Titans comics while Nacho and I briskly walked out to the beachfront for our usual late afternoon frolic. He brought along with him about ten paper boats for a race in one of the little pools in the sand. 

Only two survived, as they easily tipped over and sank.  He cried over the poor ones who did not make it and was very upset that the last two survivors ended up submerged in the end as well. We talked about why it happened, and he planned to make bigger ones out of newspapers next time. 

A few hundred meters away was a fisherman's boat that turned in for the day. Nacho desperately wanted to "drive it and go far, far away to the sea!"  He is a little man of animated gestures, and he repeated his wish over and over with outstretched arms.  We had another talk about how we needed a boatman to take us to the sea, and that we need to leave very early in the morning, and make sure that it is safe to go into the deep sea.  He said he was telling Daddy to wake us all up very early next time and tell the boatman to come along so we can see some fish.

I let him daydream for a while.  I spotted some fishermen who were fixing their nets for tomorrow's early morning fishing and went over to say hello.

There was a new lifeguard's station on a sandbar in the middle of the shallow sea.  It was so tall, that even during high tide, the water would only reach on the lower one third of the station. In a few days later, they will paint it white and bright red.

Several new bright flag markers were floating on bamboo squares to warn the swimmers (and waders) during high tide to go no further, for their own safety. Nacho was drawn to them.  He first inspected the one nearest him.

But he couldn't resist going to the one partially submerged in water to see if he could float on it. The marker was tied with a long nylon string to a large dead coral on the sea bed. It was immovable. He spent almost an hour trying to make it float around in circles by wriggling with it. 

Later on, he discovered that it was easier to make it move if he floated on his belly holding on in front of him, while he kicked around to make it go.

A little later, we turned around and saw Rene coming towards us. Nacho's face lighted up, and they talked about the critters again.

And a bit later, ran and kicked a ball around.

 

Then we heard a squeal and a laugh.  "Elise is here!".  We were having too much fun and she wanted in. 

So the three ran and kicked some more.  They would occasionally kick the ball my way, but they knew I was too busy documenting every minute of our memories.

It went on till sunset, as usual.  

And I resolved that the next time there is some running, chasing or kicking, I will take less pictures and play more. 

The Treasures of the Microtel Puerto Princesa Beachfront

Microtel Puerto Princesa is a refreshing 50-room hotel on the beach, some 9 kilometers away from the cluster of other hotels in the city.  Lucky location, since none of the other hotels in Puerto Princesa City are on the beach.  

There it is on the right - the blue roof on the white sand between the beach and the lagoon! 

Upon entering Emerald Playa, the van takes a short drive along the lagoon.

Here is how it looks like when it's full of water (at dusk)...

The van stops at the entrance.

Guards in navy blue shorts smile warmly and lead you to the lobby with several furniture lined with mangrove twigs. 

Here are some mangrove trees.

Blue and white wooden and glass doors open to the beach...

The calm, blue-green sea is just a few steps away.

In April, the tide is high during the mornings.

Elise and Nacho love to sit and let the waves splash against their backs. 

The tide is low during the afternoons until the evenings.

During the wet season, it's the other way around: low tide in the mornings and perfect for a walk while the sun is rising.  Here is my brother-in-law taking a well-deserved break...

photo by L.C.S.

... Elise in a pink dress that matches the early colors of dawn...

photo by L.C.S.

...and my father-in-law greeting another day!

photo by L.C.S.

We love it when the tide is low, and the kids can safely walk, examine and explore things.  There are several sandy pools, each is where another little universe exists. 

There are cone-shaped shells with hermit crabs inside.

Be careful when collecting those shells! 

These beautiful shells also have hermit crabs in them.  They were slowly crawling away as I tried to focus the camera. 

Crabs abound.  They dig into the sand and stay there, making holes in the sand.

In some parts of the beach, there are tiny holes for about ten feet around! Imagine how many crabs made them!

This blue crab is about an inch in diameter, and is very quick to disappear.

Rene said that if you wake up early enough, you would see swarms of them crawling so fast together back to the sea, making tiny clicking noises. He followed a swarm once, and couldn't stop wondering about a sudden turnaround attack! 
 
These things were made by the sand that was pushed out by the crabs that came out of their holes.

They look like you-know-what that smells and starts with "p".  But some look like works of art, like this one:

And many holes, mean many works of art. 

Then there are the starfish! This one is has gray and white stripes.  Several lie beside each other in the pools, maybe about six inches apart- small ones, big ones, baby ones...

...and when the sand partly covers it, you just see the star-shaped outline. 

Here is one that was carried by the waves and got stuck on top of the rock. 

Sometimes there are colored ones.

Here is a weird black one that slid very fast on the wet, slippery sand.

And here is a starfish print on the sand... very nice. Now, how often do you see that?

Speaking of prints, I thought I saw a huge bird's footsteps.

They were each about have the size of my hand.  And they were pressed against the sand in pairs randomly around us, with no specific direction.  I wondered if the bird stepped on the sand, then flew away, then alighted again, then flew away in another direction.

Then I saw Nacho and Elise doing this:

They were scratching the sand with both hands, making a sand ball, and throwing it as far away as they could!  Bummer.

Speaking of birds, there are several herons or tagak, as they are locally called, here at the beach and at the lagoon. They are quite common and seem to be loners, walking on the sandbars by themselves, looking out to sea. 

 

Aside from sandy pools, there were also mounds of green seaweed and algae on corals.  I was scared to explore them, as there might be weirder living things in them, like small eels or sea snakes, which were said to bite when disturbed.  Maybe when I am wearing rubber boots... 

 Here are some friendly-looking seaweed that remind me of alfalfa sprouts.

photo by L.C.S.

The beachfront here is not pristine white sand where you could lay and bronze yourself in a different bikini for every day of your stay.  It is a place that invites curiosity and offers a different adventure in every little sand pool and green mound.

 
It dares you to touch and dig and watch how God, in his complicated magnificence, has made a playground!

As the sun begins to set, an occasional fisherman sails by and stops to fish.

The sun shines its final blinding light.

Just before the yellow lights are turned on at the beachfront, an orange-yellow glow shines behind this blessed place!

The moon rises, and it's officially evening.

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For those who find all this "ewwww!" and are not interested, there is always the pool.